Breakdown of Хорошая самооценка помогает найти стабильность в жизни.
хороший
good
в
in / to (direction)
помогать
to help
найти
to find
жизнь
life
самооценка
self-esteem
стабильность
stability
Questions & Answers about Хорошая самооценка помогает найти стабильность в жизни.
How is the word самооценка built, and can I use this prefix for other 'self-' words?
It is a compound word made of сам- (self) and оценка (evaluation, estimate, or grade). The -о- is a standard connecting vowel. You will see само- in many other Russian words corresponding to 'self-' or 'auto-', like самоуверенность (self-confidence) or самостоятельный (independent).
Why do we use the perfective verb найти right after the imperfective verb помогает?
The imperfective помогает is used because good self-esteem always or generally helps—it is an ongoing truth. However, the perfective найти is used because the ultimate goal of that help is a completed, successful result: actually finding stability.
The word стабильность looks like it's in the dictionary form. Why doesn't it take an accusative ending since it's the direct object of найти?
It actually is in the accusative case here! Стабильность is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь), which means it belongs to the 3rd declension. For inanimate 3rd declension nouns, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form.
In English we often say 'helps you find' or 'helps people find'. Why is there no dative pronoun after помогает?
Just like in English, Russian allows you to omit the indirect object when making a broad, universal statement. If you wanted to specify who is being helped, you would use the dative case (for example, помогает нам найти - helps us find), but it is completely natural to drop it here and go straight to the infinitive.
Learn Хорошая самооценка помогает найти стабильность в жизни and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free